Manitowoc residents combat monarch decline

Carol Stokes releases one of the four monarch butterflies that hatched Monday from chrysalis at her home in Manitowoc. There's a perceived nationwide butterfly shortage so Stokes helps by raising butterflies at her home.(Photo: Sue Pischke/HTR Media)Buy Photo

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Carol Stokes releases one of the four monarch butterflies that hatched today from chrysalis at her home in Manitowoc. There's a nationwide butterfly shortage so Carol is one of many monarch micro-ecological heroes who raises butterflies at her home! Sue Pischke/HTR Media. Photo taken on Monday, July 28, 2014.
Sue Pischke/HTR Media

Carol Stokes released this monarch butterfly that hatched today from chrysalis at her home in Manitowoc. There's a nationwide butterfly shortage so Carol is one of many monarch micro-ecological heroes who raises butterflies at her home! Sue Pischke/HTR Media. Photo taken on Monday, July 28, 2014.
Sue Pischke/HTR Media

Carol Stokes takes a close look at this monarch butterfly chrysalis that is very close to hatching today at her home in Manitowoc. There's a nationwide butterfly shortage so Carol is one of many monarch micro-ecological heroes who raises butterflies at her home! Sue Pischke/HTR Media. Photo taken on Monday, July 28, 2014.
Sue Pischke/HTR Media

Carol Stokes is raising monarch butterflies at her home in Manitowoc as the caterpillars (butterfly larvae) eat milkweed leaves. There's a nationwide butterfly shortage so Carol is one of many monarch micro-ecological heroes! Sue Pischke/HTR Media. Photo taken on Thursday, July 24, 2014.
Sue Pischke/HTR Media

Two monarch butterflies that just hatched from their chrysalis at Carol Stokes' home in Manitowoc. There's a nationwide butterfly shortage so Carol is one of many monarch micro-ecological heroes who raises butterflies at her home! Sue Pischke/HTR Media. Photo taken on Monday, July 28, 2014.
Sue Pischke/HTR Media

Carol Stokes releases one of the four monarch butterflies that hatched today from chrysalis at her home in Manitowoc. There's a nationwide butterfly shortage so Carol is one of many monarch micro-ecological heroes who raises butterflies at her home! Sue Pischke/HTR Media. Photo taken on Monday, July 28, 2014.
Sue Pischke/HTR Media

Carol Stokes releases one of the four monarch butterflies that hatched today from chrysalis at her home in Manitowoc. There's a nationwide butterfly shortage so Carol is one of many monarch micro-ecological heroes who raises butterflies at her home! Sue Pischke/HTR Media. Photo taken on Monday, July 28, 2014.
Sue Pischke/HTR Media

Carol Stokes released this monarch butterfly that hatched today from chrysalis at her home in Manitowoc. There's a nationwide butterfly shortage so Carol is one of many monarch micro-ecological heroes who raises butterflies at her home! Sue Pischke/HTR Media. Photo taken on Monday, July 28, 2014.
Sue Pischke/HTR Media

Carol Stokes releases one of the four monarch butterflies that hatched today from chrysalis at her home in Manitowoc. There's a nationwide butterfly shortage so Carol is one of many monarch micro-ecological heroes who raises butterflies at her home! Sue Pischke/HTR Media. Photo taken on Monday, July 28, 2014.
Sue Pischke/HTR Media

Carol Stokes releases one of the four monarch butterflies that hatched today from chrysalis at her home in Manitowoc. There's a nationwide butterfly shortage so Carol is one of many monarch micro-ecological heroes who raises butterflies at her home! Sue Pischke/HTR Media. Photo taken on Monday, July 28, 2014.
Sue Pischke/HTR Media

Carol Stokes releases one of the four monarch butterflies that hatched today from chrysalis at her home in Manitowoc. There's a nationwide butterfly shortage so Carol is one of many monarch micro-ecological heroes who raises butterflies at her home! Sue Pischke/HTR Media. Photo taken on Monday, July 28, 2014.
Sue Pischke/HTR Media

Carol Stokes releases one of the four monarch butterflies that hatched today from chrysalis at her home in Manitowoc. There's a nationwide butterfly shortage so Carol is one of many monarch micro-ecological heroes who raises butterflies at her home! Sue Pischke/HTR Media. Photo taken on Monday, July 28, 2014.
Sue Pischke/HTR Media

Carol Stokes releases one of the four monarch butterflies that hatched today from chrysalis at her home in Manitowoc. There's a nationwide butterfly shortage so Carol is one of many monarch micro-ecological heroes who raises butterflies at her home! Sue Pischke/HTR Media. Photo taken on Monday, July 28, 2014.
Sue Pischke/HTR Media

Carol Stokes is raising monarch butterflies at her home in Manitowoc. There's a nationwide butterfly shortage so Carol is one of many monarch micro-ecological heroes! Sue Pischke/HTR Media. Photo taken on Monday, July 28, 2014.
Sue Pischke/HTR Media

Carol Stokes is raising monarch butterflies at her home in Manitowoc. There's a nationwide butterfly shortage so Carol is one of many monarch micro-ecological heroes! Sue Pischke/HTR Media. Photo taken on Monday, July 28, 2014.
Sue Pischke/HTR Media

Carol Stokes releases one of the four monarch butterflies that hatched today from chrysalis at her home in Manitowoc. There's a nationwide butterfly shortage so Carol is one of many monarch micro-ecological heroes who raises butterflies at her home! Sue Pischke/HTR Media. Photo taken on Monday, July 28, 2014.
Sue Pischke/HTR Media

Carol Stokes releases one of the four monarch butterflies that hatched today from chrysalis at her home in Manitowoc. There's a nationwide butterfly shortage so Carol is one of many monarch micro-ecological heroes who raises butterflies at her home! Sue Pischke/HTR Media. Photo taken on Monday, July 28, 2014.
Sue Pischke/HTR Media

Carol Stokes released this monarch butterfly that hatched today from chrysalis at her home in Manitowoc. There's a nationwide butterfly shortage so Carol is one of many monarch micro-ecological heroes who raises butterflies at her home! Sue Pischke/HTR Media. Photo taken on Monday, July 28, 2014.
Sue Pischke/HTR Media

Carol Stokes is raising monarch butterflies at her home in Manitowoc. There's a nationwide butterfly shortage so Carol is one of many monarch micro-ecological heroes! Sue Pischke/HTR Media. Photo taken on Thursday, July 24, 2014.
Sue Pischke/HTR Media

Carol Stokes is raising monarch butterflies at her home in Manitowoc. There's a nationwide butterfly shortage so Carol is one of many monarch micro-ecological heroes! Sue Pischke/HTR Media. Photo taken on Thursday, July 24, 2014.
Sue Pischke/HTR Media

Carol Stokes is raising monarch butterflies at her home in Manitowoc. There's a nationwide butterfly shortage so Carol is one of many monarch micro-ecological heroes! Sue Pischke/HTR Media. Photo taken on Thursday, July 24, 2014.
Sue Pischke/HTR Media

Carol Stokes is raising monarch butterflies at her home in Manitowoc. There's a nationwide butterfly shortage so Carol is one of many monarch micro-ecological heroes! Sue Pischke/HTR Media. Photo taken on Thursday, July 24, 2014.
Sue Pischke/HTR Media

Carol Stokes is raising monarch butterflies at her home in Manitowoc. There's a nationwide butterfly shortage so Carol is one of many monarch micro-ecological heroes! Sue Pischke/HTR Media. Photo taken on Monday, July 28, 2014.
Sue Pischke/HTR Media

Over a period of nine to 14 days, the insects increase their body mass almost 2,000 times as it grows, shedding its skin five times to allow for this rapid increase in size, said Karen Oberhauser, a butterfly biologist at the University of Minnesota.

Once they pupate and become a chrysalis – that's science speak for cocoon – the women wait another nine to 14 days for the butterfly to emerge. After letting their iconic orange and black wings dry for a couple of hours, the ladies release them into the wild.

Stokes transfers the monarchs from their cage to her finger and onto a flower.

"Use your legs," she instructed them during the release.

Most monarchs only live for a couple of weeks before mating and dying. The last generation, born in late August, gets to live for seven to nine months but forfeits mating in order to migrate to Mexico. The butterflies fly back north in the spring, where they mate and die.

"It's amazing to watch all the different stages of life and know you helped them along," Stokes said.

Nationwide shortage?

Despite the women's efforts, monarchs are in steep decline across the nation, a disturbing trend that's persisted for much of the past decade, said Oberhauser.

She attributes this drop primarily to habitat loss, which includes the wintering sites in Mexico but also the mating region, which spans from the East Coast through the Corn Belt.

Farmers spraying pesticides to eradicate weeds have simultaneously eliminated a majority of milkweed plants. Illegal logging in Mexico also contributed to the plummeting numbers.

Still, some experts dispute that the monarch populations are declining at all.

"It's a difference of opinion on how to interpret the data on hand," said Andrew Davis, an assistant research scientist at the University of Georgia. "The lower numbers are mostly at sites in Mexico, which is only one of the stages of a monarch's life cycle."

He went on to say he has noticed an increased number of monarchs sited at coastal states throughout the winter, which suggests the monarchs are simply adjusting to the temperature change and making a shorter migration.

"It's not good or bad," he said. "It just is. Monarchs are adapting to a changing environment."

Citizen efforts

No matter how the data is deciphered, there are still many questions about this critter with a brain the size of a pinhead. Their months-long migration make it one of the most beloved insects.

"I would hate to think that someday there wouldn't be monarchs," Stokes said.

While Oberhauser said it is unlikely the species will become extinct, the conservation work done by private citizens is boosting butterfly numbers.

Stokes released only 35 monarchs last summer, but this summer is already up to 133 with another month to go. Beilke usually raises up to 600 monarchs each summer. Despite the amount of work the job entails, both said they will be back at it next summer.

"The last release of the summer is always a relief because I know I'll get a break," Stokes said. "But it's also sad because I know I won't see them again till next spring."

Kelly Meyerhofer: (920) 686-2152 or kmeyerhofe@htrnews.com

Growing milkweed

Citizens do not have to put in as much time as Stokes and Beilke do to help nature. Oberhauser encourages gardeners to plant patches of milkweed in their yards.

• To be sure that you plant milkweed appropriate for your area, it is best to purchase plants and seeds from suppliers that are closest to your location.

• Most local gardener's stores do not sell milkweed or only do for a limited time in the spring.

• Stokes started growing her own milkweed by taking a milkweed pod from her friend's garden and planting it in her own.

• If you do find a place that sells milkweed, Davis said to be sure it is not tropical milkweed, which is sometimes called a bloodflower. This type harms the insect's entire biology because it induces monarchs not to migrate.